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by free spoons
Summary: Who would have thought that a spell with such good intentions would leave a world without hope? Xover with children of Men


Reactions By freespoons 

Summary: Who would have thought that a spell with such good intentions would leave a world without hope?

Disclaimer: Buffy is Joss Whedon's baby, and Children of Men would fall under the domain of Alfonso CuarСn and P.D. James.

(1/1)

As days turned into weeks following the First's defeat in Sunnydale, all anyone could do was marvel at the wonderful new world they had created.

"The magics involved...it was beautiful." Willow would say, muttering to herself about the pureness of the slayer spell

"Maybe I just may get the retirement package." Buffy joked, usually followed by Faith asking Giles just what the new Council was going to make the Slayer retirement package include.

"It was, like, better then Aragon's victory over the hordes of Mordor!" Andrew would say to describe the final victory over the First to Slayers who hadn't been at the battle in the Hellmouth. Xander would then insult Andrew, but clarify to the girls that he was kind of like one of the Eagles who helped save the day as well.

It was about as good as it could get. There were some minor set backs, slayers still died, vampires and demons still tried to end the world every May, but things were getting better. As the months turned into years, the New Council of Watchers and Slayers had streamlined the world saving, apocalypse ending business down pretty well. If the Hellmouth in Cleveland started acting up, 10 or 12 slayers, their watchers and a couple witches and wizards would show up to deal with the problem, then go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for some downtime. A dark wizard might think Tokyo was a great place to gather the blood of virgins for his newest universe collapsing spell, but the NCWS East Asia office would send out a team to deal with the issue and a matter of hours.

The world was doing okay as far as the slayers were concerned.

But slowly, things started to change. Faith miscarriage of her and Robin's first child was the first sign that escaped everyone's notice. Faith cried for days, begging for Robin's forgiveness, thinking that her desire to try and save human lives while pregnant was okay. That was not the reason she should have asked forgiveness.

Shortly after Faith had rejoined the world trying to leave her depression behind, Dawn announced that she and her boyfriend, James, would be getting married soon, because she was pregnant. Faith took it upon herself to keep Dawn's baby safe, as part of her penance. But it wasn't enough. Dawn lost her baby as well. As Buffy, James, Willow and Faith tried to console Dawn in the hospital waiting room, it was Giles, standing of to the side trying to hide his grief, when he overheard the nurse. "That's the 5th one this week. This is getting crazy. My cousin in Orlando said the same thing is happening down there too."

And that is how the cost of the slayer spell was uncovered by the Scoobies. All over the world, women stopped having babies. As the year 2008 drew to a close, it became news when a mother had given birth. Those babies became instant celebrities, for no other reason then being alive. But the final piece of the puzzle wasn't known, until Buffy fell asleep, sick from the widespread flu pandemic, and dreamt.

---

She was used to getting Slayer dreams at this point in her life, so Buffy's consciousness didn't find it to odd to find herself dreaming of a completely barren world. She walked around the desert, completely devoid of life. Completely except for one other being.

"Whistler." Buffy stood, hands on her hips, looking at the poorly dressed balance demon.

"Buffy." Whistler said right back at her.

"What are you doing in my dreams? Did you finally realize that if you came to me in person I would whip your ass three ways pass Sunday?"

"Yeah, sounds fun and all, but I'm the one who has every right to be angry at you, ya know." Whistler sounded angry at Buffy, which in Buffy's experience with Whistler was very unusual.

"You? Angry at me?" Buffy wasn't about to take Whistler's bull against. She wasn't some 17 year old anymore. "For what, learning how to dress myself in the morning? Sorry, the clothing you're wearing is your own fault."

"Are we really going to do the witty batter part of the evening? Because I'm here for a reason."

Buffy snorted. "What, to tell me that the world is ending? C'oz this whole infertility thing wasn't a big enough clue."

"Yeah, but the cause is still unknown. At least to those who still dwell on Earth."

"Okay, you're here to tell me what's making humanity fail in the baby making department. So dish. The quicker we talk, the quicker I can wake up and kick the ass of whatever is doing this."

"You did it." Whistler said softly.

Buffy paused. That wasn't the answer she was expecting. "What? And you better explain really well before I start leaning how well ribs work as xylophones."

"Still with the violence. Jeez." Whistler sat down on a chair that had been there a moment before. "You proposed the idea, and your friend Willow actually did the spell that caused this problem."

"The slayer spell? But...how?" Buffy refused to believe even for a second that something that how done the world so much good could possible have anything to do with the disaster currently facing humanity.

"The balance. You tilted it so far one way, that the universe revolted in such an unexpected way. You got all the slayers, but no more humans," Whistler explained. "The spell Willow cast, well, she shouldn't have been able to cast it. But the First had thrown this so far into its favor, that it left that tiny opening for someone to throw the balance in a completely different direction. Unfortunately, your plan to create your little slayer army pushed the scales too far in favor of the light."

"And that's a bad thing?" Buffy protested.

"To the scales of the universe, kid? It's just as bad as the scales too far in favor of the dark. I don't question why that's so, it's for philosophers with one name to figure out. But the point I'm trying to make is that the universe is trying to right itself right now."

"So let it getting all balance-y again. Tip the scales back to normal and let people start having families against." Buffy argued.

Whistler sighed. "I'd hoped it was that easy, and it could balance itself before man kind goes extinct, there's only one problem." Whistler looked at Buffy, hoping she would understand what he was trying to tell her.

And she did. "As long as there are so many slayers around, the balance can't be restored," Buffy slowly realized. "And if the balance isn't restored, then mankind dies out."

"Got it in one, kid." Whistler told Buffy. "And the only way to tip the scales back for normal..." Whistler didn't want to say the last part. He almost couldn't. Luckily for him, Buffy did.

"The slayers have to die."

The End


End file.
